>> mr. obama maintained his ideas for tackling budget problems are what earned him another term. >> i think every voter out there understood that was an important debate. and the majority of voters agreed with me. >> voters also kept democrats in control of the senate. republicans lead the house. that's the dynamic president obama will face when he meets with leaders friday. in washington. >> the president also answered questions about climate change and the terror attack in libya. as for the patraeus scandal, members of the house intelligence committee met behind closed doors today with the head of the fbi and acting cia director. we're hearing tonight patraeus will testify on capitol hill tomorrow about the terrorist attack in benghazi. >> hoping to keep her job as the house democratic leader. still in minority but the job is

her fz she wants it. also learned today that censor elect plans to caucus with the democrats in january. the independent will take retiring republican center's seat. ends months of speculation about which party he would align himself and gives democrats a 55 -45 seat edge. what we don't know is who will if i am arizona's seat. that was the seat held by gabby giffords. the ballots are still being counted and the lead seems to change everyday. her hand picked replacement is neck and neck with marsha mcsally. showed could be in better state financially next fiscal year. according to the baltimore sun, the budget analyst says next year's operating budget may fall

$27 million short and while that doesn't sound good, it is far better than the hundreds of millions of dollars in shortfalls we've seen in the last few years. and one of the most expensive universities is losing ranking with u.s. news and world report. george washington university was taken off the 2013 list of best colleges today. that after the magazine says it overstated data on incoming freshman for more than a decade. the chief rancor says he thinks the error was inadvert ant. but will stay until future information can be confirmed. >> drivers of a pick-up truck and students need to be taken to the hospital. happened today. a pick-up truck rear-ended the bus at 301 andwan son road. a spokes person tells us 32 kids were on the bus at the time. the only one who had to go to the hospital was complaining of knee pain. no word yet on any

charges related to the crash. if you are eating dinner, push it aside until after this story. a former usda poultry inspector department wants to roll out nationwide could leave you eating some of the most gross stuff you can imagine. in the kitchen with more on that. >> puss, scabs, feces. how is that for gross? all of that could end up in the chicken that you are cooking for your family if the usda goes ahead with your plan. the usda insists it is trying to refocus inspectors on the contaminants that can really make you sick. >> is it safety important to everyone? >> staged in front of the agriculture department by 177,000 people. >> you can't inspect a chicken.

it's impossible. >> she's a grandmother and retired poultry inspector and has spent decades trying to keep our food safe. she was one of the first inspectors on this so-called temp pilot inspection program. >> if they enter with fees he's and bile and scabs, they just roll around in this tank for an hour. >> turns over much of the work of visually checking chickens and the ag department says refocuses federal inspectors on spotting dangerous microbes. >> congress passed a law. let's go by the law. >> what you are talking about these blemishes are quality issues. >> had a remarkable record since the pilot program rolled out in 1998. >> in 20 chicken plants for 13

years and these plants have good or better of a record. >> himp speeds up the line and puts inspectors at the very end of it when it is too late to catch problems. >> a lot of americans feel the same way. >> i'm praying it works and feel like the lord's going to follow through. we're going to save lives in this country. >> the national chick hen council says the visual inspection is one of a dozen checks. and this is modernization based on the latest science and design really to protect the public health. >> some of the items are not things you want to be eating when you eat your dinner. how do you protect yourself if you really want to know what's in your chicken? >> this is about 20 plants. the other thing is really what we've been preaching for a long time is cook the chicken completely. make sure it is completely killed and that will kill the

salmonella and the other dangerous microbes. >> thanks for telling us. all right back to you . >> thank you. driving along the dushgs dulles toll road will cost you more. today they voted to raise polls by 50 cents next year and another 757 cents a year after -- 75 cents the year after. adds up to a difference of $30 a month. and just a reminder those new express lanes open in virginia on saturday. the 14 miles of toll lanes stretch from about the dulles toll road on to the springfield mixing bowl. want to know more about the pricing, go to wusa9.com. >> we value the number of you who tune in to watch us. tonight we're learning the people in northern virginia are learning another valuable local news source after 143 years under various names now known as

the manassass news and messenger will be closing at the end of the year. bought by warren buffett's world media enterprises and doesn't think it can make them profitable. 105 people will lose their jobs. we learned about the death of university of maryland professor or michael du monceau. he was killed when his jeep hit a flatbed truck. no charges have been filed in the accident. >> very sad. coming our way at 7:00, plastic bag battle. depending on who you talk to, banning the bags will save the environment or just trash thousands of jobs. the complete story in just a little bit. >> still to come in this half hour, a war of words brewing over the best way to save the chesapeake bay. >> and let's talk numbers.

much cooler today. temperatures in the 40s. 49-36 in the books. we will talk about the weekend. starts off nice. may not finish so strong. >> but first ahead a pharmacy at the center of the deadly meningitis out break. what he had to say with families of the victims listening. that's next. >> 9news now is sponsored in part by

in tonight's health alert. trying to get to the bottom of the nation's deadly meningitis out break. the owner at the center of the investigation came to capitol hill today. but he refused to answer the questions of a house committee. instead heard from the widow of the first of 32 people to die in this out break. >> these are human beings that these committees, the fda, the ecc, whoever is responsible. know their lack of attention to their duties cost my husband his life. cost my family a loss we will never recover from.

and if you don't do your job and they not appear to be anything to you, but you are affecting human lives. valuable human lives. >> the commissioner of the food and drug administration says the agency needs more funding to oversee these pharmacies. try to shut this place down a decade ago. 400 people fell ill that were contaminated with the fungus that caused meningitis. in the last hour we've received word in a big breakthrough in alzheimers research. identifies the new gene that appears to strongly raise the risk of this disease. less than 1% of people have thought to have the gene in question. but people who do have it develop alzheimers. researchers are hoping it leads to new treatments.

>> still ahead, a store manager shot in the middle of the night. the latest on the search for a suspect coming up.

a dc superior court judge has sentenced the man convicted of grabbing women's private parts while cycling past them. 31-year-old oscar mauricio was placed on three years probation and ordered to undergo sex offender and mental health treatment. tonight the search is on for the person who shot the overnight manager at a wal-mart during a robbery. >> police are investigating the bizarre shooting of a wal-mart shift manager in this parking lot at 4:30 this morning. and possible link to a mysterious burning car nearby. moved quickly to this townhouse development where a mysteriously burning car was found on hammer stone drive. police have the case and just released these camera

photos of the suspect walking in the store. he was a white man in dark clothing with a mask covering his face. >> watch my back. you just never know . >> the shooting has shaken shoppers. >> you see a lot of families in here. >> the store manager is hospitalized with nonlife threatening injuries. >> 9news now. >> a disturbing new report about the damage that could be done if terrorists ever targeted the united states power grid. according to the national academy of sciences, could lead to thousands of deaths and cost hundreds of billions of dollars. prolonged blackouts during extreme weather, high heat or freezing cold could be worse. the authors are calling for the government to protect the grid and create inventory of generators that could be used in such an emergency. >> the chesapeake bay foundation says efforts by the law firm are the worst attack on clean water ever seen.

sent the governor a letter asking him to fight it to get rural counties to challenge the restoration effort. it's just trying to help determine the most cost affective way to save the bay. >> melting glaciers have accounted for more than half the rise in sea level worldwide in the last century. scientists at the university say glaciers contributed from 1902 to 2007. >> in japan a rare site. check out this video from a japanese news crew. shot it over the city. lasted about 10 minutes before it dissipated. never reached land or cause damage but plenty of hail. >> couple things. you see mountains in there. and sort of unusual for them to be in mountain areas. japan is not

known for tornadoes but an occasional one. every state in the union can have a tornado. >> i have seen a water spout and people get all antsy about them. >> you should. and add hail and say not every thunder storm that produces a tornado has hail but the two go together hand in hand. looking from crystal city. our live michael and son weather cam. looking at temperatures more reminiscent of december. only 45 right now. that's downtown. dew points upper 20s. a good indication of how low we could go. winds easterly at 7. pressure sitting on 30 .47 inches. that's pretty high reading. so satellite picture radar. we have a little disturbance. it is a nuisance. clouds in the ohio valley. back into the tennessee valley and showers showing up in georgia. all the showers and rain with this system will stay to our south. some of the high clouds

will roll in. some already here and continue through tonight and into tomorrow. all in all not a bad day tomorrow. won't have to worry about winds. temperatures are falling like a rock. you folks are headed for the 20s. 43 college park. already 39 in restin. 39 in centerville as well as manassa. just dropped as we speak. the far western suburbs will be in the upper 20s. staying crisp. you'll need a jacket or a coat. looking at a chilly day tomorrow. the good news is it will not be windy or breezy. temperatures will get close to average. clear skies early and cold. high clouds come in late. 28 to 38. we're looking at 28 or so. 29 in gathersburg. maybe 36 downtown.

32 in college park. and sterling and leez burg looks like a lock even with the high clouds. by morning, partly cloudy and chilly. winds light and by afternoon, we'll keep it partly cloudy. high clouds all day. a little chilly. highs around 50. winds northeasterly at 5 to 10. the next few days keep things green. cool by nice on friday. >> mid 50s again. now, next 7 days, still watching that coastal storm. all the models are going to develop. how close to the shore will it get? we'll keep you posted. chance for light rain sunday night into monday. back in the 50s tuesday and wednesday. if that were the case might just get the game in before the rain. >> forecast for the skins, they must win everything else. can you make that happen? >> just about. >> a little help too.

the redskins are holding out hope for at least a winning season. starts this weekend with the eagles. we'll hear from the guys and expectations moving forward. can they bring home more hardware? sports is next.

and now 9 sports with

kristen berset. >> all right. what will we be talking about come sunday night? can the redskins stop three game skid with big win overfill dell if i i can't or beat by a rookie quarterback getting first start of the season? the redskins are hoping the latter. expected to start in place of mike vic. they know this is a must win game. >> kind of puts us in the playoff situation. every game is like a must win. so we definitely taking a different approach going into the next few games. going to be must wins. we have to. >> only thing that's on these player's minds. we have to take care of what we can handle and control. phillies only thing we have on our minds. that's the way i look at it. >> pierre rejoined his team today. he was limited but could return to the line up for sunday's game. garcon hasn't

played since week one. >> always out there but limited today. the skins won't be the only local team facing the back up. and won't face steelers quarterback ben roethlisberger. suffered a sprained shoulder and dislocated rib. there's still time to vote in our high school game of the week poll. your choices playoff choices include northwest, orchard who lost last year. maryland 2 a's west match up at middle town. usa todayhigh school sports.com. monday brice harper was named manager of the year. last night davy johnson's turn taking home manager of the year. too many words. geo gonzalez could make it three. he led the majors with 21 wins and 206 batting average.

his numbers are some of the best in the league. stiff competition for the award especially in r.a. dickey. and unlike davy and brice, geo won't be watching the awards at home. enjoy the evening at his favorite italian restaurant. he goes there quite a bit. friendly with the owners and the wait staff. if he doesn't win, he can still enjoy a beautiful pie. >> that would be something. i love pizza. >> we're hungry. >> he has my vote. he should win. >> come on. >> it will be another close one like brice was. r.a. dickey has some push room there. >> we'll have to watch. that's it for w usa 9. the cbs evening news is next. >> and derek is back with the only local news cast at 7:00 and see you tonight at 11:00.

>> wusa9.com is always on. have a good night .